


i got you

by literallyjer



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bromance, Brotherly Love, Could be platonic, Cute, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, hurting, justin is just a sweetie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-18 19:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14859110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literallyjer/pseuds/literallyjer
Summary: everyone assumed Clay was fine but Justin can see how much he is hurting. And maybe Clay needed Justin to save him more than he even realized.Or in which Justin helps Clay cope.





	i got you

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiii this is my first story in this fandom and I hope I didn't throw it all to shit! This is also just a short little story to help me overcome some writers block but maybe it will lead to a longer clustin fit! Cause i know that I am not the only one that is so totally in love and obsessed with their relationship! Anyways, thanks, enjoy  
> xx

Six months.

That’s how long it took for Justin Foley to get underneath Clay Jensen’s skin. In the six months since Clay and his family had taken Justin in, and the paperwork for adoption had been started, Clay was more and more affected by every little thing that they other boy did.

At first it was little things, like when Justin would hesitate before he touched anything in the house because he was too afraid that any screw up would get him kicked out. It took two weeks of Clay reassuring him that he was home before Justin started moving more freely. And once he was comfortable, the older boy began to show a side of himself that Clay had only just discovered existed.

Justin was a sweet guy. He wasn’t entirely the asshole that Clay had known prior to Hannah’s death. Even after her death, Clay was convinced that Justin was a horrible person for what happened with Jessica. It wasn’t until he took the time to get to know Justin and see how much he hated himself for that incident that Clay was able to see that he wasn’t a bad guy—he’d just had a rough life.

But after the trials, and the near school shooting with Tyler, Clay was able to see just how sweet of a guy that Justin was. He constantly checked in on his friends, and even went out of his way to check on Tyler. After word got out of what had happened to Tyler in the bathroom that day with Monty, Clay had to force Justin to stay inside because the fire behind the older boy’s eyes scared Clay and he wasn’t sure what he would have done had he found Monty and got his hands on him.

And there was no denying how close Clay and Justin had gotten. After everything, there were days when Clay couldn’t bring himself to get out of bed. Having an assault riffled aimed at your face wasn’t something that anyone could just get over. So sometimes there were nightmares that left Clay screaming and waking up drenched in sweat. Luckily, Justin and Clay were sharing a room, and on those nights when Clay was awoken by those terrifying dreams, Justin was there on his bed calming him down and reassuring him that he was safe and that everything would be okay.

That’s how their bond had started to build in the first place. Justin looking after Clay and making sure that he was okay both at night and the morning after. And in return, Clay made Justin feel at home. Little things like making him food whenever he made some for himself, or letting Justin drive them around instead of always doing it himself. Or even just making sure Justin knew he had someone by inviting him out whenever Clay was going somewhere. He wanted Justin to know that he wasn’t alone—the same way Justin was doing for him.

“Hey what are you doing tonight?” Justin asked. He was laying on his bed tossing a basketball up in the air and catching it as it fell.

Clay turned around in the desk chair to look at him. “Uh, I don’t know. Nothing probably.”

Justin chuckled and shook his head. “You need to get out more.”

“Yeah, you keep saying that.” Clay rolled his eyes and turned back toward his laptop.

“No seriously,” Justin said and sat up on his bed. “You need to have more fun Clay. You had a rough last couple of years and you need to let loose. It’s going to be senior year and your high school experience shouldn’t consist entirely of suicides, rapes, and trials.”

The room was silent. Clay kept looking at his laptop but he wasn’t focused on it. Instead his head was turning with all the truth that Justin had just spoken. For the most part, his life did consist of nothing but tragedy.

“Shit.” Justin whispered. “Sorry Clay, I didn’t mean to overstep.”

Clay shook his head and turned back to the jock. “You didn’t. You’re right. Surprisingly.”

Justin smirked at the other boy. “I’m not the dumb jock you thought I was Jensen.”

“I am slowly figuring that out.” Clay said with a sigh.

 

So that’s how the pair ended up going out that Thursday night. Somehow, Justin had convinced Zach that he should have a get together for their group at his house while his mom and sister were away. It was going to be a casual, small gathering. Or so they thought.

Once they arrived they realized just how large their group was. The two boys showed up and were instantly greeted by the sound of chatter going on. And when Zach walked them in they saw Jessica, Alex, Tony, Caleb, Tyler, Cyrus, Courtney, Ryan, and Sherri all laughing and talking as music played in the background.

“Make yourselves at home!” Zach exclaimed as his clapped his hands on each of the boy’s shoulder before walking over to the couch and taking a seat next to Alex.  
Clay exhaled trying to calm his nerves just a little.

“Hey.” Justin said next to him. Clay looked at his soon to be brother and instantly felt calm looking into his warm eyes. “We’re just going to have some fun kay? Nothing crazy; just us and our friends.”

Clay nodded and felt a little more at ease. Justin smiled the crooked smile that he was famous for and then nudged Clay with his shoulder, encouraging him to walk further into the room.

Taking his lead, Clay walked into the room and made the rounds saying hi to everyone. He fell instead a seat next to Tyler and smiled at the boy.

“How’s your summer been Tyler?” He asked.

Tyler gave a slight smile. “C’mon Clay you have come to visit me almost every week this summer you know how its been.” He teased.

Clay nodded awkwardly. “Yeah, right of course. Ugh sorry I’m just not in the social headspace right now so conversation isn’t coming naturally.”

“Don’t sweat it. Justin basically warned us all that you were going to be an awkward mess and we’re just supposed to play along with it.” Tyler chuckled.

Clay rolled his eyes and looked over to where Justin and Zach were laughing at something one of the other had said. Of course Justin would give all their friends a disclaimer about his iffy behavior.

“Are you sleeping?” Tyler asked.

This got Clay to look away from his roommate and instead at the boy next to him. Even looking Tyler in the eye was slightly hard for him. Every time he looked into those green eyes, his heart started racing. For more reasons that just one. How had he allowed Tyler to go through so much and not even pick up on it? He hated himself for that. Yet at the same time his heart raced in fear looking at the boy who had threatened the lives of him and all of his friends.

In that moment he started getting flashbacks of having the gun pointed at him. For a while, Tyler looked so set on going into the auditorium and opening fire. The look in his eyes scared Clay, and it was that look that sometimes haunted Clay’s dreams.

He shook his head slightly. “Uh yeah,” He muttered. “I’m sleeping fine.”

Looking around, he noticed that everyone was still chatting and that his minor freakout was going unnoticed.

“I’m gonna go grab a drink.” He said softly and got up and started heading to the kitchen.

Once he was alone, Clay gripped the edge of the sink and leaned over taking a deep breath. The panic that was starting to fill his head was one he was becoming too familiar with. He closed and eyes and tried to focus on just breathing, like he had been trying all summer whenever things got too bad.

It had all kind of hit him at once. Once everything cooled down with Tyler and with the trial being over everyone expected life to get better. Or as all the adults would word it “go back to normal”. But Clay knew first hand that was bullshit. If everything was to go back to normal he wouldn’t be having nightmares about almost being killed with an assault rifle, or still get images of two girls he knew being sexual assaulted by someone from their school. He shouldn’t still be feeling like this.

“Clay?” A voice broke his thoughts.

He turned around slowly and saw Justin standing at the counter with wide eyes.

“Clay what’s wrong?” He said softly.

Clay shook his head and shrugged. “Nothing, I’m fine.”

“You’re crying.” Justin pointed out.

Clay brought his hand to his face and surprised himself to find that his cheeks were indeed wet with tears. Pulling his sleeve up slightly he used it to dry his eyes quickly.

“I’m fine. I swear.”

Justin walked around the counter until he was standing directly in front of the slightly shorter boy. “What is it?” He asked a little more firmly.

Clay looked down at his shoes, avoiding all eye contact.

“Hey,” Justin put his hand on Clay’s chin bringing his eyes up to meet his. “We don’t keep things from each other remember? I’m here for you no matter what Jensen.”

Clay felt the tears coming this time, and he wanted so desperately to stop them. For them to just disappear and not escape but he knew that they weren’t going it stop.

“I just want to forget.” He finally spoke, his voice cracking with tears as he did.

Justin nodded, his eyes softening even more, if that was even possible.

“You were strong for us all for so long Clay, it’s okay to not be okay now.” Justin moved his hand to his shoulders and squeezed them gently. “Its my turn to be strong for you now.”

Clay nodded, and without thinking, stepped forward and placed his head on the other boy’s shoulder. The tears fell more fiercely now and Clay didn’t care. When Justin’s arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him in closer, he let it happen.

“I got you Clay.” Justin said. One hand reach up and held the back of Clay’s head holding him in place. “I got you.”


End file.
